Judge Dismisses Android Switcher Lost iMessage Lawsuit

By Jeff Gamet

Dec 23rd, 2015 9:32 AM EST

A lawsuit alleging Apple somehow interfered with text messages so they wouldn't appear on Android smartphones after users switched from iPhones has been dismissed. The ruling wraps up a string of failures from a small group trying to call Apple to task over the problem.

Judge dismisses lost iMessage lawsuit

Federal Judge Lucy Koh, who also handled the patent infringement cases between Apple and Samsung, issued a terse ruling stating,

The Court has granted the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendant Apple Inc. See ECF No. 112. Accordingly, the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment in favor of Defendant. The Clerk shall close the file. IT IS SO ORDERED.

The lawsuit started in 2014 when a law firm filed its case in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California. The issue was that iPhone owners who used iMessage didn't see text messages from other iMessage users when they switched to Android smartphones. People faced with the problem hadn't disabled iMessage on their iPhone before moving to an Android device.

The filing asked for class action status which was initially granted. That case, however, was ultimately dismissed. The individual case carried on with the original plaintiff, her attorney, and his wife.

Apple asked the court to dismiss the case when it lost one of its named plaintiffs, and after discovering two of the three got rid of their old iPhones after the case was filed. The plaintiffs, Apple argued, couldn't show that the messages went to their iPhones instead of their new Android phones.

Judge Koh agreed, and issued her order dismissing the case.

Apple fixed the issue that led to the lost text messages before the first case was filed and claimed it was a bug—not an intentional act to frustrate customers switching away from the iPhone platform.

If the plaintiffs were hoping for an out of court settlement, that didn't pan out. Instead, they're left with a case that was thrown out and no extra cash to show for their efforts.